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Learning the minority languages of the RF | ||
Tags: Russia | Endangered Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| zhiguli Senior Member Canada Joined 6440 days ago 176 posts - 221 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Mandarin | Message 17 of 38 17 January 2010 at 9:17am | IP Logged | ||
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But that presupposes actually living long-term in a place where the language is spoken. From the comments I'm guessing this is not a realistic option for a lot of the people on this thread (it certainly isn't for me).
It also presupposes that the natives will not mind your intrusion into their personal space, which as in the example of the Chechens is not a sure thing. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| chucknorrisman Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5447 days ago 321 posts - 435 votes Speaks: Korean*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian, Mandarin, Lithuanian, French | Message 18 of 38 17 January 2010 at 12:57pm | IP Logged | ||
Where did you find materials for Avar and Chechen? I couldn't find anything. Or are you talking about materials for them written in Russian? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 7143 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes Studies: Uzbek | Message 19 of 38 17 January 2010 at 2:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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I suspect the number of those interested may be limited, particularly in light of Zhiguli's comments regarding the Chechen response to foreigners' studying their language, but I see that Dunwoody Press has just published a Chechen Reader; they also publish a couple of other books on Chechen grammatical topics, but no actual textbook as far as I can see.
http://www.dunwoodypress.com/products/-/303 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5837 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 20 of 38 17 January 2010 at 5:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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Learning one of these languages without first speaking fluent (very high level) Russian seems about as smart as for me (Swedish) to try to learn Welsh or Navajo without first learning English...
Sure, I could claim I was passionate, had a burning interest in the culture etc.. But how smart would I be to spend my time on the Welsh project before I knew English to a very high standard? English is spoken, understood and even preferred by all Welsh people, particularly as the most practical means of communicating with strangers. Far be it for me to discourage anyone though... But don't forget that these people are Russian citizens, living in Russia. Russian is not a foreign language to them to anything near the degree that English is a foreign language for a French or German person. Plus, how are you going to access the learning material? Reality check, people. If you REALLY, REALLY burn for one of these languages, then move to Kalmykia or Dagestan etc... and prepare to stay for several years if you are up for it. Then your studies would probably be taken seriously. Unless you do that, Russian will be far more useful for pursuing your interests in these cultures/people. Ok, you can start bashing my negative and discouraging attitude now. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gusutafu Senior Member Sweden Joined 5520 days ago 655 posts - 1039 votes Speaks: Swedish* | Message 21 of 38 17 January 2010 at 7:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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The minority languages in Russia are not like Welsh. Many of them are native languages for all the locals concerned, not newly revived languages that are spoken by no-one.
Secondly, Russian is not considered a necessary-to-know language like English, so the simile falters. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5837 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 22 of 38 17 January 2010 at 8:07pm | IP Logged | ||
I am not disputing that it is necessary for non-native English speakers to learn English. Also, the point was not that Russian is necessary for everyone to know. But I'd be as bold as to say that it would be necessary for those with an interest in minority languages within the Russian federation to know Russian to a high level. Particularly if they plan to learn one of these minority languages. The learner would need to access grammar books dictionaries and much more.
Well, I am not going to get into any flame about this. If anyone wants to throw themselves at Dagestani, Buryat or Chukchi without first learning very good Russian... then do not let my reservations hold you back, and good luck. Let us know when you become fluent e.g. you can hold down a serious conversation. Also do let us know how you will use your skills. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6581 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 23 of 38 17 January 2010 at 9:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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A few things I have spent a lot of time on without any practical benefit:
I have studied martial arts for nine years, several hours a week, without any practical benefit whatsoever. I have never had to use my skills and I probably never will. I have watched through many TV series and movies and read a lot of books. Many, many hours of my life I have spent on this, with no practical benefit. I have played and even designed role-playing games for many, many hours during fourteen years of my life, all without practical benefit. I have chatted with my friends about life and the universe, wasting hours on end over rapidly cooling cups of tea, laughing and gesturing and starting to tell jokes before realizing I'd already told them before, over other cups of tea. Completely without practical benefit. One day I plan to get married, make love to my wife and cuddle with her, wispering sweet nothings into her ear for several hours a week during half a lifetime, without any practical benefit whatsoever. In fact, you know what kinds of things I've done for practical benefit? Boring things. Uninteresting things. Even painful things. Learning a language has never been one of those things. Edited by Ari on 17 January 2010 at 9:17pm 10 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Gusutafu Senior Member Sweden Joined 5520 days ago 655 posts - 1039 votes Speaks: Swedish* | Message 24 of 38 17 January 2010 at 9:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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The point was that you can't really compare it to learning Welsh without knowing English, because English is much more necessary in today's capitalist world. You can get by fine without Russian and lead a normal life, but Russian is just a bonus.
Regarding the bigger question, you certainly don't need to learn Russian to a very high level in order to use the teaching material, and you obviously don't need any spoken fluency at all, just enough to obtain a basic reading ability, which can easily be acheived in a few months. DARISTANI: Thanks for the Tuva links! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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